August 31, 2019
By Ryan Porzl
Tournaments go with MMA like peanut butter and jelly from the first few years of the UFC to PRIDE's famous grand prixes among others. In recent years, MMA's number two American promotion Bellator MMA has begun a combination of recreating the classic grand prixes of Japan along with returning to their tournament roots though unlike the old Bellator tournaments, these grand prixes are held over a period of six to twelve months instead of three months. We saw Bellator do the Heavyweight Grand Prix in 2018 and then a Welterweight tournament that same year. Now, Bellator is gearing up for their third grand prix in September with the Featherweights. We'll take a look at the participants and where they stand going into this, what they have to gain and lose.
I decided to look at this like a pyramid where we'll look at the fighters based off where they stand. The first rung are fighters who are the most desperate to win it which include Derek Campos, Sam Sicilia, and Georgi Karakhanyan. At 19-9, Campos is a six year Bellator vet who is a former tournament semifinalist but currently finds himself on a three fight losing streak. Campos has had several opportunities in the past to move up the ladder with fights against two time tournament runner up Patricky Pitbull and former three time champion Michael Chandler but has come up short each time. Campos has the best and worst of both worlds as a loss, especially in his first round fight, could see him get let go while winning the tournament would launch his name over a period of few months, become the new champion, and enjoy a three fight win streak. Sam Sicilia is 17-9 and washed out of the UFC. Though he currently is 2-1 in Bellator with a win over former Bantamweight Champion Marcos Galvao and recently with Campos but he's been yo-yoing so far in Bellator and as mentioned washed out of the UFC. A loss would be another setback and continues his yo-yo ways while winning the tournament puts him in his first win streak in four years and would be great redemption following a UFC release and mixed Bellator run. Karakhanyan is probably on the shakiest of grounds as the former WSOF and TPF Featherweight Champion has already had two previous runs in Bellator that didn't pan out. Now, he's back for a third outing but it hasn't worked so well as he lost his return fight to former title contender Emmanuel Sanchez. Winning this tournament would be gigantic for Karakhanyan as it would give him two more featherweight honors, redemption, and his first win streak in over three years.
Next we have good fighters who are kind of in limbo such as Darrion Caldwell, Daniel Weichel, and Henry Corrales. Upon debuting in 2014 and currently 13-3, Caldwell had been one of Bellator's biggest prospects before reaching the Bellator Bantamweight Championship in 2017. Despite his success, Caldwell is at a crossroads as he's in the first losing streak of his career failing to become the first Rizin Bantamweight Champion on New Year's Eve when he lost to Kyoji Horiguchi and then came up short in the rematch in June where he lost the Bellator Bantamweight Title. Caldwell now moves back up to featherweight hoping for a clean slate. A loss would hurt as he could be fighting for his job if he gets sent packing in the first round. Winning the tournament puts Caldwell back in the drivers seat and one of the few to have won a Bellator title in two weight classes. Can third time be the charm for Weichel? The former M-1 Global Lightweight Champion, who is 39-13, has already had two opportunities at the featherweight title and came close each time but wasn't able to get the job done. Things haven't gotten much better as a move to lightweight didn't help as he lost a close fight to up and comer Goiti Yamauchi resulting in the first losing streak in a decade. Now, Weichel is moving back down to featherweight and has another chance at the featherweight title and redemption. Will third time be the charm? Will he run into Patricio in the tournament and avenge those two close defeats or does Weichel come up short again? Then there's Henry Corrales who got thrown into the deep end of the pool upon his arrival in 2015. Originally coming in undefeated at 11-0, Corrales found himself on a three fight losing streak losing to top fighters like Daniel Straus and Patricio along with up and comer Emmanuel Sanchez. However, since then, Corrales has racked up a five fight win streak scoring wins over Cody Bollinger, Karakhanyan, and up and comer Aaron Pico thus putting him at 16-3. Corrales now finds himself with the biggest opportunity of his career as he now has another chance at big fights, to become the featherweight champion, and possibly avenge a loss or two.
Third will focus on promising up and comers which are AJ McKee, Emmanuel Sanchez, Adam Borics, Tywan Claxton, Pedro Carvalho, Saul Rogers, and Juan Archuleta. With some exceptions, these five are in the same boat as they're promising but are looking to break to the next level, if not, break the glass ceiling. Of the five, McKee and Sanchez stand out as McKee is undefeated at 14-0 and with all those wins being in Bellator, it's the current record for biggest win streak and McKee is also coming off the biggest win of his career over Bellator legend Pat Curran. Sanchez is already on the rise with wins over Marcos Galvao, Karakhanyan twice, and Daniel Straus while having challenged for the featherweight title and is 18-4. These two are on the cusp of superstardom in Bellator and this tournament is exactly what they need to go from prospect to star. Borics, Claxton, Carvalho, and Rogers are more unknown as with the exception of Borics defeating fellow prospect Aaron Pico, they don't have any notable wins on their resumes or titles. Winning this tournament would launch any of these guys to stardom and on many top ten list. This is huge for them to launch their career's faster than expected. Best of all, some don't have to wait for a big opponent as Borics has Pat Curran, Claxton has Emmanuel Sanchez, McKee has Karakhanyan, and Rogers has Weichel. However, Archuleta has the most going for him. Currently 23-1, The Spaniard is riding a lot of momentum and looks like a future champion especially after defeating former bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas. Archuleta is perhaps getting the biggest opportunity of everyone as his first round opponent is none other than Patricio Pitbull, the current reigning featherweight champion. Imagine the shockwaves that would hit Bellator and MMA if this young and comer slayed the champion and in the first round, nonetheless. It would turn the tournament upside down.
We move to the second to last rung in former champions Pat Curran and Daniel Straus. Both men have many things in common as they along with Patricio Pitbull have been dominating the featherweight division for the last seven years. In fact, you have to go back to inaugural champion Joe Warren and his reign which ended at the hands of Curran in March 2012 to last find a Bellator Featherweight Champion that was either these two or Patricio. Both are also former two time Bellator Featherweight Champions and tournament winners. Unfortunately, both have one bad thing in common namely injuries which have led to long layoffs. Both men have been fallen apart in the last four years with neither one fighting much either fighting only once a year or sometimes missing an entire year of action. After winning his second featherweight championship, Straus, who is 26-8, broke his hand before winning and missed all of 2016 before returning in 2017 where he dropped the title to Patricio and then lost to Emmanuel Sanchez which resulted in the first losing streak of his career. Things got worse when Straus then missed all of 2018 due to a motorcycle accident. Since then, he has returned to the winner's circle earlier this year with a win over Shane Kruchten but Kruchten isn't an elite level fighter so the question many should ask is whether Straus is truly back and has a chance to win? Curran, who is 23-8, isn't much better as he racked up a three fight win streak from 2015-2019 and against the likes of Sanchez, Karakhanyan, and John Teixeira but his appearances were few and far between. 2019 will mark the first year since 2015 that he's fought more than once as he only fought once in 2016 and 2017 while missing 2018 and some of his fights were sometimes a year and a half apart. Curran also saw his recent win streak get snapped by up and comer AJ McKee so he's coming in this tournament with a loss so now the question people will ask is if the McKee loss was a speed bump on the road or a sign his time is coming to an end and the next generation is taking over. A win for either guy would see them back in familiar territory as a tournament winner and champion but they would also be the first to threepeat as Bellator Featherweight Champion.
Finally, we look at the king of the mountain Patricio Pitbull. Safe to say, Patricio is at the top of his career as he's not only 29-4, he's also enjoying his second reign as featherweight champion as well as coming off defeating Michael Chandler to become the lightweight champion which makes him a two divisional champion. Patricio probably has the most to gain and definitely the most to lose. Like Rory MacDonald with the Welterweight Grand Prix, Patricio must win the GP in order to remain champion. Should he lose at any point during the GP, the fighter that beats him becomes the lineal champion with the winner of the GP becoming the undisputed champion so Patricio must win not one, not two, not three, but four fights to not only win the GP but retain his championship. However, a win would be massive for his career as it would solidify him as a top three featherweight in the world with an argument he is the best having not only won a GP but successfully defended his championship four times along the way. With great risk come great rewards. Does Patricio finally fall off his throne or does he continue to solidify his status as the featherweight kingpin?
So many fighters, so many fights, and so many possibilities. All in all, these fighters may be in different positions of their career and may have different odds for winning but few things are certain which is they're all battling for the Grand Prix, the Featherweight Championship, and immortality. History will be made and the pecking order of Bellator's featherweight division could go upside down.
No comments:
Post a Comment